Aby Rosen is the buyer of NYC Church Missions House: source

Aby Rosen’s RFR Realty is in contract to buy New York City’s Church Missions House at 281 Park Avenue South, The Real Deal has learned. Earlier this week, multiple sources told TRD that an Italian family was the buyer of the $50 million landmarked property, and intended to convert it into condominiums with retail at the base. However, a source involved in the deal today revealed Rosen as the buyer.

RFR plans to position the building as a single-tenant office building that could ideally serve as the headquarters for a company looking for a high-profile space in the hot Midtown South market, the insider said. Another option is to put retail on the bottom two floors of the building and office space on the upper floors, the source said.

The seller of the landmarked six-story, 36,749-square-foot property is the nonprofit group Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies, which just picked up a $13 million office condominium at 40 Rector Street.

Massey Knakal Realty Services’ John Ciraulo and Savills Studley’s Howard Poretsky listed the property in April for $50 million, or about $1,361 a foot. Both brokers declined to comment. Other investors who looked at the deal include Himmel + Meringoff Properties and Empire Capital Holdings, sources said.